upon my arrival in Barcelona, I was on my own to make new friends and find my way about the city. Fortunately, this was no problem.
Having mentioned to Christina’s friend, Ian, that I was interested in learning about the Barcelona jazz scene, I arrived in town with a list of clubs to check out. JazzSi was top on the list and so, on Tuesday night, I and a new friend from the hostel, Thomas, ventured out to see what sort of show would be happening. To my great surprise, the night’s show was a tribute to one of my favorite jazz bassists and contemporary composers, Dave Holland, performed by a quintet of university music students from Barcelona. The show was phenomenal. The band had transcribed two full sets of Holland’s original compositions and performed them excellently. For the first time, I got to hear one of my favorites songs on record, “Prime Directive”, played live.
If you’ve got a few minutes to listen to a fantastic quintet chart, check out the Dave Holland original: "Prime Directive"
After the show, Thomas and I stuck around to chat up the band. Upon learning that I was a musician myself, our new friends Vitalik, Philippe, Marc and Laura were eager to talk and it was determined that we should go out for drinks. Discussing our favorite players and records and the ups and downs of music school and life as a professional musician, we barely noticed as the restaurant’s clientele slowly dwindled down to just us. With closing time upon us, numbers were exchanged to facilitate future musical adventures and everyone went their separate ways.
Laura had mentioned that on Wednesday there would be a jam session in a small club near her apartment and that she would show it to Thomas and I if we would like. Embracing this fortuitous development, I showed up to the session with trumpet in hand eager to play. After introducing myself to the guitarist leading the session and explaining my musical background, he invited me to sit in for a tune. And, after the trio burned through a number of standards, I sat in for a blues. Following the conclusion of the night, the session leader invited me to comeback anytime. It was unfortunate, I had to tell him, that I would be leaving Barcelona in just a few short days.
The following day, I attended the internationally acclaimed popular music festival Primavera Sound which I had learned was taking place in Barcelona upon my arrival at the hostel from the many travelers who had come from all over North America and Europe to attend.
The festival was held in Parc del Forum, a large public gathering place on the coast of the Mediterranean which was originally built for the “Universal Forum of Cultures” exhibit in 2004. One of the park’s many fascinating architectural features is a gigantic sculpture of a solar panel made up of solar panels.
According to some sources, this panel of panels is the largest solar panel in the world.
After purchasing my ticket to the festival, I was fortunate enough to be chosen by raffle to attend the most anticipated and exclusive event of the festival, the performance of Sufjan Stevens at the Museu Blau natural science museum next to the park. Sufjan Steven’s work has been an inspiration to me since high school and I firmly believe that the his compositionally sophisticated, emotionally gripping, genre-bending, 2010 album, The Age of Adz, is a modern musical masterwork. Apparently other people like his songs quite a bit as well.
Needless to say, the show was one of the most amazing performances that I have ever seen.
Closing out my week in Barcelona, I took the metro to Plaça Catalunya on Friday afternoon only hours after police forces had stormed the square to clear protesters.
The New York Times report on the breaking up of the protests by riot police (which includes videos of the event itself) can be found here: "Police Clash with Protesters in Barcelona"
It was apparent that the police efforts had been in vain as the square was filled with thousands of people carrying signs, rebuilding shelters and chanting slogans by the time I arrived in the early evening.
I guess it is only time that will tell what the effects of their committed efforts will be.
Below are a few of my favorite photos that I took at the protest gathering.
A protest sign featuring the "Nuclear? No Gracias!" logo.
The communal kitchen assembled in the square by the camped-out protesters.
A wall covered in notes posted by protesters.
The raising of hands in a moment of silence before cheers and chants.
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